Godsend (2004) |
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Godsend (2004) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Nick Hamm (Director), Kramer Mongenthau (Cinematographer) Alternate Ending-4, With Optional Commentary Theatrical Trailer Storyboard Comparisons |
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| Year Of Production | 2004 | ||
| Running Time | 98:35 (Case: 100) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (89:09) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Nick Hamm |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Greg Kinnear Rebecca Romijn-Stamos Robert De Niro Cameron Bright Merwin Mondesir Sava Drayton Jake Simons Elle Downs Edie Inksetter Raoul Bhaneja Jenny Levine Thomas Chambers Munro Chambers |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music | Brian Tyler |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Despite the legal and moral dilemmas that surround the cloning process, Dr. Wells (Robert De Niro) explains that it's no more than an extension of the fertility process, that just like natural conception this is life from life. As Adam is soon to be buried and critical viable living tissue will soon be unavailable, the couple must quickly make their choice, one that they struggle with. Is it possible? Is it right? And does it fly in the face of the memory of their departed son? Soon, though, the choice must be made and the couple agree to go ahead with the process. The procedure is arranged, as well as a new home and job for Paul (who is a teacher) near the doctor's clinic, which is called The Godsend Institute. Before they know it, a son is born to them, and they name him Adam.
Fast forward to Adam's 8th birthday, and things couldn't be better. Paul and Jessie (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) have settled into their new community, and the couple have a wonderful large home with great water views. And their son is just the same as their first one...sort of. Adam begins to drift into a daze, as if being transported somewhere distant. Then the nightmares start, as well as memories from experiences that aren't his. Dr. Wells explains that there could be a period of adjustment during the age where the original Adam (Cameron Bright) died and the new Adam continues to live. But this is just a theory and the couple, especially Paul (Greg Kinnear) become increasingly concerned with the mental state of their son. Adam begins seeing a therapist, but the nightmares and flashbacks continue, coupled with sudden violent acts. Paul's continued protestations to Dr. Wells seem to fall on deaf ears and the more Adam seems to drift away, the more that Dr. Wells becomes desperate to hold onto control of the Duncan family, especially Adam.
Frustrated at the lack of success of Dr. Wells in curing Adam, Paul embarks on his own investigations into the Doctor and the strange memories that Adam has related to him. Nothing can prepare Paul for the truth that he uncovers, and the truth could mean the death of himself and his wife...and possibly Adam!
What do you get when you mix an A-Grade cast with a B-Grade script? A B-Grade movie. Don' be fooled by the top notch cast, slick cover and catchy tag. This is pure straight-to-video fare on a big scale. If this same film was made with a quarter of the budget and a cast of unknowns, few would even bother to talk about it. But since this features a quality (normally) cast, especially Robert De Niro, you can almost forgive the attention that this film has received. Almost. Written by Mark Bomback, whose credits consist of 1998's The Night Caller and the upcoming Die Hard 4.0, this is not a great effort. Perhaps I expected too much from the film, but there is frankly too much here to forgive in terms of cinema quality. The characters all fall into their appropriate roles. Greg Kinnear is good as the dad whom suspects that Dr. Wells isn't telling him everything, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is okay as the wife and mom, but I didn't buy the two as a pair. There seemed to be too little chemistry between the two, and I found it hard to think of them as a real couple. There is even an ill-timed love scene between the two, which just plain doesn't work. Robert De Niro has been better. Originally scripted as a very small role, the filmmakers convinced De Niro to expand his role from almost a cameo to a fully-fledged character in the film, with the marketing centring on him.
Director Nick Hamm has a few credits to his name, but this venture is the British director's first Hollywood venture. Technically it's all fine. The camera work is good, the sets interesting, the premise worth investigating. In the end, however, this film is not the sum of its parts. Instead of relying on the script and performances to instil fear and tension (and indeed interest) in the viewer, we are left with the old quick camera move to the side and the accompanying "Thrump" in the score. Cheap thrills. If I want this type of scare, I'd watch something like Ju-On (The Grudge), which does it 1000 times better. This film should have been able to depend on the script to create thrill and excitement. Sadly, it doesn't do much more than provide a simple fright from time to time. A B-Grade film worthy of straight-to-video status. I wish I could say better things about the movie, but this is just plain ordinary.
This film is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with the appropriate 16x9 enhancement.
Clarity and sharpness here is good, with the image clean and clear throughout. There is a little film grain that affects the sharpness, but this is very minimal and is not a real issue of note. Shadow detail is good with an adequate level of detail available throughout the feature. I had no problems with low level noise.
Colour's use in this feature is quite natural, with a warmer look used in the early part of the film and a colder, harsher colour scheme used for most of the rest of the film. This difference in colour handling (which was due in part to different film stocks being used) is intended by the filmmakers. The colour treatment in the film is transferred well to DVD.
This feature is transferred to disc at an average bitrate of 4.65 Mb/s. Not an overly high rate, but enough to provide a reasonable image during the feature presentation. As stated before, there is a slight level of film grain, as well as the very occasional white fleck that is visible from time to time. Aliasing is noticeable at 40:54, but this is for the most part a one-off and not a problem with the programme in general.
There are no subtitles available for this feature.
This disc is formatted RSDL with the layer change taking place rather late in the film at 89:09, between Chapters 14 and 15. This is less than 10 minutes from the end of the film, which I found to be rather odd.
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There are 3 audio options here, these being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix running at 448 Kb/s, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mix at 224 Kb/s and an Audio Commentary running at 224 Kb/s. I listened to the 5.1 mix as well as the Audio Commentary, both in their entirety.
Dialogue quality here is good with the spoken word understandable throughout. There is some distortion in the dialogue at 84:29, but this is an isolated case and is not the norm for the audio during the rest of the programme. Audio sync is good throughout.
Music for this feature comes from Brian Tyler. Brian is an up and coming score composer, whose work includes soundtracks for Frailty, Bubba Ho-tep, Darkness Falls, Timeline and the upcoming Keanu Reeves film Constantine. The score here is appropriate to the material and suits the film well.
The 5.1 mix is reasonable and provides a good level of atmospheric rear effect without any overuse of the surround channels.
LFE is present during the film, but the subwoofer spends most of its time supporting the mains with the score. The occasional "Thrump" sound used to scare the wits out of us is backed up well by the subwoofer.
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Selecting the Special Features menu offers the following:
For the most part, this is a Director's Commentary with very little contribution from Kramer Mongenthau. In the initial part of the commentary, the discussion is quite technical with the director discussing the various filming techniques employed in the film. As the film nears its conclusion, however, the director turns to talking about the storyline and character motivations. Interesting for those interested in the film, but tedious for those for whom watching the film once was enough.
Alternative Endings - Total Running Time: 49:37
This is a collection of four alternate endings for the film. Despite what was originally written and filmed, test audiences were not impressed with the original ending and the studio asked for revisions. In the end, four endings were filmed (with even more conceived) and here we have these for our entertainment. I would have liked these to have been selectable from the start and integrated into the film, but as the audio and vision is to some extent incomplete, this wouldn't quite work.
Upon selecting the Alternative Endings icon, you are presented with the following options:
Theatrical Trailer - 2:16
This is the standard trailer that works well and makes the film seem more interesting than it is. It is presented full frame with audio in Dolby Digital 2.0.
Storyboards - 1:50
Here we are able to see the storyboards for the final scene of the film. Using the Angle function on your DVD player's remote, you can toggle between having the final scene with the storyboard at the bottom of the screen or vice versa. If you've seen storyboards, then you won't see anything here that you've never seen before. Filler, if you ask me. This feature is presented in 2.35:1 with 16x9 enhancement. Audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This disc has been released both in Region 2 Europe as well as Region 1. The Region 1 version is the same as ours, with the simple exceptions of featuring English and Spanish subtitles (ours has none), but missing out on the English Dolby Digital 2.0 track, which is really no loss. The Region 2 discs are reported to feature a similar package to ours, plus cast and crew interviews that run for around 11 minutes as well as a short behind the scenes feature. Our version is reasonably good if you are a fan, but the Region 2 discs might be worth a look if they can be found at a good price.
This film is fairly ordinary. There really isn't enough here to raise this film from simple straight-to-video fare. The inclusion of Robert De Niro in the cast isn't near enough to provide any real excitement, and in reality anyone could have played the good (bad) doctor here to the same effect. If you don't raise your expectations too high, then you might get a bit of fun out of this, but don't expect too much. Disappointing. The video is good. The audio is good. There are several interesting extras for fans of the film.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Panasonic DVD RP-82 with DVD-Audio on board, using S-Video output |
| Display | Beko TRW 325 / 32 SFT 10 76cm (32") 16x9. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Yamaha RX-V2300 Dolby Digital and dts. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). |
| Amplification | Yamaha RX-V2300 110w X 6 connected via optical cable and shielded RCA (gold plated) connects for DVD-Audio |
| Speakers | VAF DC-X Fronts (bi-wired), VAF DC-6 Center, VAF DC-2 Rears, VAF LFE-07 Sub (Dual Amp. 80w x 2) |